Grappling?

[Shard]

By all means Judo is fine. BUT, you can't just pick a school that teaches judo and think you can handle yourself well in MMA. You got to make sure that they have a large enough emphasis on the ground.

I occasionally train at the judo club in my school and i can tell you they do not. I repeat DO NOT teach ne-waza at all. While they do ne waza rolling there is no formal teaching of ne waza. Hell, the head instructor won't even roll. Practically the only thing they ever do if they roll is to pin/turtle. Which will not help you much in a MMA scenario.

Personally i would say if you had the opportunity, take BJJ. There are less variables you have to worry about and less to do to transition to a MMA setting.

Judo is still a viable option. My MMA coach's grappling background is Judo. But he has changed the way it is taught so that the transition has already been done for us. We avoid turtles as far as possible, Our takedowns are
very similar to amature wrestling takedowns.

I'm not too familiar with Greco Roman so i won't comment about that.

[Penance]

I don't get how you can give BJJ a lower "score" for ground control than Judo.

Yeah, I know Judo has newaza. It's just not even in the same league. You haven't really truly suffered until you've had a BJJ purple belt or higher purposely control you.

[J-Luck]

Problem with Greco Roman is no leg defense. Freestyle is truly the most complete of the pinning wrestling styles.

[J-Luck]

Yes, if you can only pick one, Judo is without a doubt the best.

I know you like your wrestling, so I'll compare it to that first.

Wrestling, A+ takedowns, A+ Ground Control D- Sub Defense.

Judo A- takedowns, A- Ground Control, B+ Sub Defense/Subs.

BJJ- C Takedowns, B Ground control, A+ Submissions.


The point is that if your just a wrestler, your gonna get submitted this has been proven time and time again.

If your just a BJJ guy, and you cant get the fight to the ground your fucked.

If your a judo guy, your not gonna get tapped real easy because you've seen the subs before, you can submit people, you can control people, and you can take them down.

This is only taking a grappling style into account, and then and only then is it focusing on ONE ground style.

Add striking into that mix, and wrestling becomes alot better looking, but so does Judo at the same time. BJJ skills are useless against someone who can defend takedowns, and strike.

Judo just gives you the best of both worlds, takedowns, and subs, or sub defense.

Which would I recommend as the base for an actual fighter who wasnt limited to one style... who knows... depends on whats available to you, wrestling seems to be the best "base" style you can have for the majority of fighters. I dont discredit wrestling at all, it should be trained just as much as the others. But if you can only have one for MMA, Judo all the way because it covers everything.

Correction, without a gi, judos effectiveness plumets. Takedowns go to B, maybe less. ground control is truly the same as Bjj... just not as emphasised. No Idea why you'd give it a higher rating. I'd give it, in a good school, that does alot of newaza, a B (in comparison to the others that is). Sub defense is potentially the same as Bjj, but again prob not as emphasised... so I can agree with what you wrote... but maybe I'd give it an A,A-???

[The_Judo_Jibboo]

IDoesnt Judo consist mostly of throws and takedowns? i thought it didnt have any submissions or basic ground positions in it

According to the Kodokan, a good Judo match should be about 70% standing and 30% on the ground. in my experience, the more competition oriented the instructor, the more the ground percentage goes up. my first instructor at San Jose State was of olympic caliber, and liked to train us 50/50, one day tachi waza, next day ne waza.

And as to the double leg question which someone else already answered, just to reinforce: they are legal and becoming more and more popular in fact with the popularity of MMA. again, my first instructor actually devoted a pretty good amount of time teaching us to defend double and single legs and in general the wrestler's approach to grappling, since some other universities like to throw their wrestlers into competitions.

[TheTerror]

Small Circle Gracie JiuJitsu would be bes in my opinion

[Adept]

Erm, Judo doesn't having shooting, though does it?

Morote-gari: Judo double leg takedown.

[Nick]

Erm, Judo doesn't having shooting, though does it?

Personally, I'd make BJJ my main thing, then learn some Judo or Greco-Roman style moves.

[sapatiero]

BJJ/GJJ gets my vote, it's worth noting that double-legs have been used more extensively in BJJ since Rolls Gracie's influence in the '70s. Do BJJ, and ensure you work on your single/double-leg & you'll be ok IMO.

One note of caution though, look for a club that has an MMA bias, or an MMA team/coach. You don't want to be learning too much technique that ONLY applies to sport/tournament BJJ like feeding lapels etc.

[DickHardman]

judo is harder to learn and takes longer to use effectively inmop. the grappling also usually isnt good enough to hang with bjj/submission wrestling guys.

i vote for bjj.

[Juicefree]

In my humble opinion I'd suggest BJJ (if you could only pick one).

I'd tend to not go with judo as it is considerably more gi-dependent than other grappling skills. To support this, you see a lot less judoka making a successful transition into MMA than you do other grappling arts (which isn't to say they necessarily couldn't).

At the end of the day the submission skills BJJ brings to a MMA fight far out-weigh it's generally poorer take downs, and A+ submission skills will win a fight outright, whilst good positional and take down skills will only increase your chances of winning.

However, a lot of the top BJJ guys cross-train with judoka to build a more rounded fight plan. So if you can, train both.

As for wrestling skills, they certainly help, but it's along time since the likes of Ad Santel ruled the world !

[SamuraiGuy]

Without a doubt?

Yes, if you can only pick one, Judo is without a doubt the best.

I know you like your wrestling, so I'll compare it to that first.

Wrestling, A+ takedowns, A+ Ground Control D- Sub Defense.

Judo A- takedowns, A- Ground Control, B+ Sub Defense/Subs.

BJJ- C Takedowns, B Ground control, A+ Submissions.


The point is that if your just a wrestler, your gonna get submitted this has been proven time and time again.

If your just a BJJ guy, and you cant get the fight to the ground your fucked.

If your a judo guy, your not gonna get tapped real easy because you've seen the subs before, you can submit people, you can control people, and you can take them down.

This is only taking a grappling style into account, and then and only then is it focusing on ONE ground style.

Add striking into that mix, and wrestling becomes alot better looking, but so does Judo at the same time. BJJ skills are useless against someone who can defend takedowns, and strike.

Judo just gives you the best of both worlds, takedowns, and subs, or sub defense.

Which would I recommend as the base for an actual fighter who wasnt limited to one style... who knows... depends on whats available to you, wrestling seems to be the best "base" style you can have for the majority of fighters. I dont discredit wrestling at all, it should be trained just as much as the others. But if you can only have one for MMA, Judo all the way because it covers everything.

[Shard]

Actually no. While the emphasis of most schools of judo is in the throws, ne-waza(ground work) is still taught. Pins, joint locks, chokes, etc.
There are schools that do place a larger focus on Ne-waza, such as Kosen Judo. So, there you have it. Judo isn't just about throws and takedowns.

Althought there are some considerable changes one has to make in order to make the transition from judo to MMA, Judo does provide a good base, as long as there is sufficient focus on Ne-waza.

[TheTerror]

IDoesnt Judo consist mostly of throws and takedowns? i thought it didnt have any submissions or basic ground positions in it

[jubaji]

If you can only pick one, it is without a doubt, Judo.

Without a doubt?